ICONIC ARTISTS RECOGNISED

John Daly-Peoples is the well-informed and perceptive arts correspondent for the weekly financial journal, National Business Review. This is his column from the current issue.

Earlier this week five New Zealand artists were honoured for a lifetime of significant artistic achievement at the Arts Foundation of New Zealand's prestigious Icon Awards, held at Sky City in Auckland.

The recipients of the 2007 Icons Awards were photographer Ans Westra, visual artist Don Peebles, theatre designer Dr Raymond Boyce, sculptor Arnold Wilson and the late Don Selwyn.

"Each of these most treasured artists are leaders in their field - they are icons of New Zealand art," Arts Foundation of New Zealand chairwoman Ros Burdon said. "They join a growing circle of New Zealand's pre-eminent artists, which includes Maurice Gee, Ralph Hotere and Margaret Mahy."

Ans Westra is one of New Zealand's most important documentary photographers, with a career spanning almost 50 years. She emigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1957 and her work was brought into the public eye in 1964 with the Department of Education's publication Washday at the Pa. She is known particularly for her photographs of Maori, the 1970s counterculture and protest action in general.

Don Peebles was a key figure in the emergence and evolution of New Zealand abstract art and has been a leading force in contemporary New Zealand painting as well as a senior lecturer at the Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University. His work has been represented in both public and private collections in New Zealand and internationally.

Dr Raymond Boyce has been one of New Zealand's pre-eminent set and costume designers whose work for theatre, opera and ballet has set the standard of excellence from which New Zealand's performing arts scene has hugely benefited. Apart from his theatre work, he designed the large tapestry for the new Globe Theatre in London.

Arnold Manaaki Wilson (Ngai Tuhoe and Te Arawa) has been one of the most significant forces in contemporary Maori sculpture. He was the first Maori to gain a diploma in fine arts with first-class honours in sculpture from the Elam School of Fine Arts at Auckland University. His work has been exhibited extensively in New Zealand and overseas. He has also had a successful and long career in art education, leading a cultural revival of Maori art in schools and in the wider community.

Don Selwyn (Ngati Kuri and Te Aupouri) who died earlier this year had a long-standing and distinguished career in the New Zealand film, television and theatre industry as an actor, director, producer and casting director. He championed Maori drama, performing in both Maori and English, and was a prime mover in establishing respect for Maori viewpoints and culture in mainstream New Zealand film and television. Each award recipient was presented with a specially commissioned medallion and pounamu pin designed by stone sculptor John Edgar. The pin is a gift, while the medallions are returned at the end of the artist's life and presented to a successor.

This year the Icon Award first presented to writer Janet Frame in 2003 was presented to Ans Westra. Frame died in 2004. The aim is for there to be a select circle of just 20 living icon artists at any one time - people honoured for a lifetime of artistic achievement and dedication to their chosen art form.